Monday, July 2, 2012

Some Kind of Prepper

That's right, some kind of prepper I am. We have had some storms roll through here for the last few days. Nasty storms. There are still people without electric going on their 4th day. And to make it worse, we have had temps up in the 100's. Imagine no electric, no refrigerator, no water,(if you have a well) no a/c or fans. Yep, it could get uncomfortable real fast. Luckily, me and Hubby are not one of them. Our electric was off for just a few hours. And that was after the storms went through, so it was a lot cooler.

Anyway, I like to think that I have been prepping for things like that. Canned foods, water to flush toilet with, crank weather radio. Yep prepared. Well...........I found out were I lack, big time. I didn't have enough oil for the oil lamps. And, I only have two lamps. Two lamps were okay for our old house. It was small. You could have one lamp going in one room and could see in the next. Our new house needs more light. So on the list of things to get for prepping is more oil and more lamps.

Another area that I lack in is watering the animals. At my old house, all I had to do was dip some water out of our cistern and take the animals some water. Now at our new home, although it's only 200 yrds from our old house and cistern, I need a way to pack the water. Five gallon buckets of water are heavy. And, a lot of goats equals a lot of water. Luckily the electric came on before it got too late, and I got to water them with the water hose.

Now, not living with A/C is VERY low on my list of things that I want to do. I will admit, I am soft when it comes to heat. A baby in fact. Give me a good cold day in January, I can handle that. Wood stove, more clothes. You can only take off so many clothes in the summer heat. I want to be prepared for the A/C to go off, but I won't be looking forward to it if it dose. You will probably hear me wining from a LONG distance away.

Now, I'm making lite of this situation when in fact, some people are really having a rough time out there. The whole state of WV is having a time with this. Not only are they without electric, some places can't get gas for generators and vehicles. People who were just passing though the state have been stranded because they have run out of gas and can't get more.

Columbus, OH had over 145,000 people without electric this weekend. If you think you have it bad living in a house without electric, imagine living in an apartment building where the windows don't open.

Out of all of this, I hope people realize that prepping doesn't always mean being prepared for an apocalypse. It's being prepared for storms and earthquakes and floods and fires. Anything can happen people. Just be prepared. I for one, will be more prepared next time.

10 comments:

AC is my weakness. I can go without just about everything and have, but the AC is a must.As far as the lights, when we were a young married couple and dirt floor poor, that was all the light we had so we would get more lamps every chance we got. We have so many that when all lit, it is brighter in the house than if I had all the lights on.Heck just in the bathhouse I have three.

After reading everyone's blog's I'm so happy, giddy, ecstatic, that I live in Washington. Looking at the weather map it looks like the only place (besides upper Maine)that isn't roasting. Tomorrow I will harvest fresh sugar peas.

Glad you got through this without too much hardship. Time to get a genny that will run a window AC and other electrical items.... also start lookin' into solar... that's what I'm doing, I just have to save some money for the items.

Glad you weren't without electric for very long. WV had 680,000 without electric on Sat. but today numbers are only half that. My son had electric on sunday everning. My mom is still without power. We are low on gasoline, food, and grocery stores!! I finally got gas last night....debbie

Sudden and possibly extended power outages are something everyone has to deal with at some point. Having some emergency prepper supplies packed away can make a huge difference in keeping your family fed and as comfortable as possible.

when you get more lamps and more oil also stock with extra oil and extra wicks...i tend to prepare things like that thinking that the power might not come back on in hours, days or weeks or even months. in the back of my mind while preparing, i even think that we should also be prepared for the power to not ever come back. speaking of a/c....my hubby and i have been experimenting this year with becoming more acclimated to the heat. we both grew up in homes without a/c so we are well aware of how hot and nasty it can be...but there are ways to stay comfortable (or nearly comfortable) with a/c. this year we have our thermostat for the air cond. set on 82. believe me, when we come in from the garden 82 feels mighty good..and we did not even turn the air on until it reached 90 degrees in the house first. we are finding our tolerance to the heat increasing with this adventure and we in fact have not suffered for it. the biggest problem with the storms of late and the heat is the folks who just did not think about being ready for it and knowing what to do before things like this happen. i do feel for the very young and the very old...

I was just speaking to my hubby about this last night. We already can food and have water stored, but our emergency stuff like lanterns, cookstove and such is spread all over the place. I told him I want to have a couple of shelves in a closet in the basement to hold all this stuff so we're not searching for it should we need it quickly. The one thing I'm not sure about is that we have a well, and without electric, the pump doesn't work, so we won't be able to get more water. We're planning on a generator, but what if there's not gas to be had? Something I've got to research and come up with a solution for for sure. Good post, something to get acting on for sure!!

Water barrels! That is the answer to watering the goats. Keep the 55-gallon barrels filled - either from rain or just filling them up. They have a hose attachment near the bottom so that you can direct the water where you need it.

About Me

I grew up on 2 acres of land north of Columbus OH. Mom had a small garden,I had a horse,and Dad had his tractor, but we were far from what you would call homesteaders. It wasn't until I moved to Kentucky and married my husband did I start to have a small interest in growing a garden again. We have a few head of cattle, a small herd of horses, a flock of chickens and 2 dogs. And the garden, it keeps growing and growing each year. We decided we want to be more self-reliant. I don't know much about homesteading, but I'm willing to learn as I go. Oh, this could get good.